Donald Trump is not running for president. Ever.

No matter how much he says he is, Donald Trump is not running for president. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Guess who's never running for president? Donald Trump.

The most recent stories about the New York real estate mogul and sometime TV reality show host mulling a bid for the White House in 2016 should be taken with more grains of salt than your doctor would recommend.

The old head fake presidential bid has been Trump's calling card for nearly three decades.

It began in 1987, when a source close to Trump told New York Magazine that he was regularly meeting with high-level Republican strategist Roger Stone to talk about “the issues of the day” in preparation for a presidential run.

That should have been a tipoff right there, since Stone is not really the type of political adviser — like, say, Condoleeza Rice — that one turns to for help brushing up on the issues. Stone is actually the quintessential campaign hit man who got his start dreaming up dirty tricks for Nixon's re-election.

But it didn't matter. Trump got to look presidential when he eventually turned down the opportunity even as he got some free publicity for his forthcoming book “The Art of the Deal.”

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It has since become something of a mutual addiction for Trump and the political pundits who speculate endlessly about dark horse presidential candidates.

Rumors of a Trump campaign swirled again in 1992, in 2000 and again in 2012, each time following a format of someone from Trump's inner circle leaking his presidential ambitions while Trump publicly denies any interest. Of late, he's also thrown out interest in running for governor of New York.

“As a sign of the appeal wealthy celebrity business tycoons can hold for voters, Trump led in early polls for the 2012 Republican nomination until it became clear his candidacy was more a publicity stunt than a serious campaign,” Scott Farris wrote.

This year, Trump has changed his strategy a bit. He directly fueled speculation of a presidential run in a phone interview with a Reuters reporter Tuesday by saying: “It is something I would certainly look at. You know why? I'm unhappy with the way things are going in America.”

That may well be, but a Trump presidential campaign simply ain't gonna happen.

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